People calling tarantulas their children/babies. Why?

[chanda]

I do anthropomorphize my pets, but I'm definitely at the normal end of the spectrum. My cats and dogs have names. A select few of my spiders even have names - though those are primarily for the benefit of my students and are rarely used at home. I tend to think of them and talk about them by their species name or common name, rather than those "people names" they've been given. I may occasionally joke about "feeding the kids" when I really mean one or more of the animals, or even call one of them "baby" or "sweetheart" or some other silly endearment, but I certainly don't think of them in the same way that I think about my actual human kids. It's more of a joke than anything. I do not treat any of the critters like a human child, nor do I expect other people to do so.

I do know some people who are like that, though - this one woman I used to work with had two daughters. One had kids and the other had a dog. The one with the dog called the dog her baby - and expected "grandma" to buy birthday and Christmas presents for the dog, just like she did for her human grandkids! She would actually get upset if "grandma" spent more money on the human grandkids than she spent on the dog. Her reasoning was that if she had chosen to have kids, her mother would buy them gifts. Just because she chose not to have kids but to get a dog instead did not exempt her mother from her grandmotherly duties. Ridiculous...

 

[The Seraph]

I just call my tarantulas ' the tarantellas'. I rarely do any sort of anthropomorphism, aside from silly nicknames like Tsi Tsi, or Kik Kik. I understand that they are animals, not people. I honestly cannot imagine how somebody would anthropomorphize a tarantula. They are as far from human as you can get.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

I jokingly referred to my T as "my spider child" the other day but make no mistake I am my T's keeper, not her mother. I even have an issue with being called my dog's mother, I'm his owner he's not my kid!

 

[EtienneN]

I think it also has to do with evolutionary psychology of the human mind. Some people are nurturers who befriend (or try to befriend) literally everyone and everything (tarantulas included). Some people are no nonsense cautious hunter/warrior types who see no real use in anthropomorphism and thus avoid it.

 

[Olan]

Why can’t I use the term “happy dance”? Why is the neurotransmitter surge I get when eating food so much more special than the neurotransmitter surge a tarantula gets when eating? I think humans anthropomorphise themselves way too much.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I just refer to them as my army of eight legged murder tanks.

The "Father of Nopes" tag on my IG is just a parody of "Mother of Dragons"

 

[Stormsky]

I don't think anyone here literally thinks of their tarantulas as their children or their babies. It's more a way of saying "this is a creature that is precious to me in some way" which I see no real problem with. If you're keeping any kind of animal, you should care about it at least a little bit, otherwise why did you choose to keep it in the first place?
I don't think the people this thread refers to have some kind of mental problem, they're just a bit more passionate about their animals than some others.

 

[LukeVendette]

I call my b. hamorii my baby because I want to. I care for her, feed her, and care about her wellbeing...

 

[antinous]

they're just a bit more passionate about their animals than some others.

Just want to say that just because you don’t call them your ‘kid’, etc. doesn’t mean that you don’t care for them as much as someone who does.

 

[Torech Ungol]

Why? Because I love them. Simple as that. This isn't anthropomorphizing, any more than loving my cats is. I love my cats *because* they're cats (I'd likely love them less if they were people), and the same is true of my spiders. It is not relevant that they can't return the feeling.

I also name my spiders. This, also, is not anthropomorphizing. A name is nothing more than a unique identifier that distinguishes one individual of a group from another. Many appliances and electronics have serial numbers, which are unique identifiers. Does this mean that their manufacturer is anthropomorphizing their products? Of course not. Neither is simply giving a thing a name making it unduly like a person.

None of this makes me a "T dad" (or a "cat dad", for that matter). It simply makes me a caretaker who loves his charges.

 

[fleetwoodmcc]

I do think some people take the 'babies,' 'adorable,' maybe even 'beautiful' too far. I don't even care about the anthropormorphising. It's just really odd. They're cool, definitely neat, but they're not that cute. If someone constantly called other pets their baby, it would be odd, too. These are spiders we hardly interact with. I don't think it needs to be overdone.

 

[Bob Lee]

I think that it's important to keep in mind that when it comes to anthropomorphism, there are varying degrees of it, ranging from simply giving pets names all the way to unhealthy levels where the owner is basically in need of psychiatric treatment. I've never seen a person on that end of the spectrum that actually treats tarantulas (or other animals) exactly like they are human, but I suppose that there may be some of them out there. Most of what goes on here looks like harmless fun to me, being detrimental to neither the animal or the owner.

I do... But then again I'm completely crazy.
To me a living creature's connection is just a given value by a certain part of your brain, and you are in control of it... I don't care even if they don't understand a thing I say, as long as the value I personally projected on to them makes me happy I treat them that way.
By thinking like this, I find myself having a much easier (happier)time with my animals, it also makes it easier to get rid of any connection I don't want, because I know that's just a fake image I projected onto an object/being that barely has any relation with me...
God damn saying my thought out loud just made me realized I'm a lot more insane then I thought I was.

 

[Luka98]

The closest American saying I can think of is "stick family" or "stick figure family" which refers to the trend of putting little stick figure decals or stickers on the back of one's vehicle (almost always an SUV of some sort) indicating the demographics of one's family, such as this: https://www.decalcity.com/stick-family-decal-p-60210.html or this: https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Figure-Family-Sticker-Figures/dp/B00QZBKYNG

They come in a variety of themes, including Star Wars, Disney, Zombies, and pretty much anything else you can think of. You can buy sets, then pick and choose the ones that match your family composition, including spouse, children, grandparents, and even pets.

There are also decals like this one: https://www.amazon.com/T-Rex-Family-Window-Stickers-Dinosaur/dp/B07DNKWKXG/ which I assume are purchased and displayed by people who are tired of seeing all the little "stick man" score cards on rear windows and bumpers.

Nuclear familly maybe?

 

[SonsofArachne]

I don't care what people call their T's as long as they take proper care of them.

For the people who don't think a human can care for a animal as much as a human - no, YOU can't care for a animal as much as human. That doesn't mean other people aren't capable of it. I care for my cat as much any member of my family, and would treat anyone who hurt her as if they hurt one of my family.

 

[EulersK]

For the people who don't think a human can care for a animal as much as a human - no, YOU can't care for a animal as much as human. That doesn't mean other people aren't capable of it. I care for my cat as much any member of my family, and would treat anyone who hurt her as if they hurt one of my family.

Absolutely! Thank you for that. Aside from my mother, my dog matters more to me than any human. I've had her for sixteen years (i.e. most of my life), and you'd better believe I care more about her than anyone else.

 

[boina]

I don't know why it's such a big deal that some people call their animals "babies". I mean there are guys out there that call their girlfriend "Baby", or at least there used to be. Now, that's creepy. Just using some kind of silly identifier for animals doesn't mean people are anthropomorphizing them.

And btw., I much prefer the 'silly, cutesy names and denominators' crowd to the "it's just a tarantula, who cares" crowd.

 

[Luka98]

I don't know why it's such a big deal that some people call their animals "babies". I mean there are guys out there that call their girlfriend "Baby", or at least there used to be. Now, that's creepy. Just using some kind of silly identifier for animals doesn't mean people are anthropomorphizing them.

And btw., I much prefer the 'silly, cutesy names and denominators' crowd to the "it's just a tarantula, who cares" crowd.

Absolutely! Thank you for that. Aside from my mother, my dog matters more to me than any human. I've had her for sixteen years (i.e. most of my life), and you'd better believe I care more about her than anyone else.

I'm not saying anything about jokingly calling your spider names as long as you're aware of it being silly, my A. geniculata's name is Whiteknee Houston for pete's sake but some people here are on a different level

Dogs are another story too we actually form bonds and functional hierarchies with them.

 

[boina]

Whiteknee Houston

I love that!

 

[SonsofArachne]

for pete's sake but some people here are on a different level

If makes them happy, who cares. I recently had someone reply to one of my posts and refer to the T. I was talking about as "my baby". While I don't think of my T's that way I certainly didn't let it bother me. I guess it's just a pet peeve for you.

 

[Luka98]

If makes them happy, who cares. I recently had someone reply to one of my posts and refer to the T. I was talking about as "my baby". While I don't think of my T's that way I certainly didn't let it bother me. I guess it's just a pet peeve for you.

I'm goofing moreso than being serious but it is kinda cringy still